New York Times mocked for asking Twitter followers if they've 'experienced a petty crime in London'

London residents trolled The New York Times after the paper asked its followers if they have "experienced a petty crime in London." (Reuters/iStock)

British social media users trolled The New York Times' Twitter account after the newspaper asked its followers if they have "experienced a petty crime in London."

The Times tweeted out an article titled, "Have you experienced a petty crime in London? Tell us your story." The article stated violent crime has increased in the city in the past decade, citing figures stating "only 4 percent of domestic burglaries in London were solved between April 2017 and April 2018."

The Metropolitan Police commissioner Cressida Dick claimed earlier this month that stabbings were reducing, The Guardian reported.

"I think we are beginning to see the tide turning in that we are putting more officers on the streets, we're doing more stop and search, we're seizing more knives, we're seizing more firearms, we’re seizing more offensive weapons, we're arresting more people for knife and gun crime," Dick told LBC radio.

The paper asked its Twitter followers to tell them if they have experienced crime and to tell them their story which could be "selected for publication."

Many Londoners appeared to not appreciate the question but took the chance to respond and get what annoys them off their chest.

"This morning, in Streatham, South London, I said 'good morning' as I walked passed a fellow pedestrian, they didn't say 'good morning' back. So rude. This will stay with me all day. Traumatized," a social media user wrote.

"Ordered a tea and they put the milk in first," a social media user wrote.

"I asked someone how they were and they actually told me," another person wrote.

"My children were abducted by their nanny and discovered cavorting with a troupe of dancing chimney sweeps," a social media user tweeted.

The tweet received more than 10,000 responses.